Why should we vaule biodiversity



















What are some big picture reasons humans might care about biological diversity in the first place?

Chapter 1: The value of biological diversity



  • Scientific Value:


  • Value to Human Health:


  • Economic Value:


  • Cultural Value:


  • Ethical Value:


  • Intrinsic Value:

The value of biological diversity: frogs case study


  • Provide ecosystem functions


  • Amphibians are critical in food webs as both predators and prey and keep invertebrate populations in check


  • Provide ecosystem services like pest control

The value of biological diversity: frogs case study


  • Provide ecosystem services like nutrition


  • French eat 4,000 tones of frog legs per year


  • Part of diet for Asia, Africa, Europe, and Americas


  • 20 species are known to be edible to humans

The value of biological diversity: frogs case study


  • Provide human health services as biomedicines


  • Amphibians skin secretions can be used for developing new antimicrobial and antiviral drugs
    • easy to obtain!


  • Australian red-eyed tree-frog (Litoria chloris) and relatives give us a compound capable of preventing HIV infection, the cause of AIDS

The value of biological diversity: frogs case study


  • Environmental sentinels


  • Amphibians are indicators of environmental contaminants that can harm humans and other animals
    • skin used to drink and breath makes then susceptible to chemicals


  • Widely used pesticide Atrazine can turn male frogs into females
    • known to cause cancer in humans
    • sterilizes frogs at levels below EPA drink water guidelines
    • currently above EPA levels in drinking water for >1 million humans

The Value of Biological Diversity: frogs case study


  • Aesthic/Cultural value


  • Amphibians are revered around the world, they are viewed as agents of rain, fertility, and luck


  • In other cultures frogs and toads have been despised and regarded as evils


Chapter 1: Meet the Data - Value of Nature

The value of biological diversity




What’s your best guess as to the annual value in US dollars per year of global ecosystem services?


  • Ecosystem services = varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and from healthy ecosystems


  • Healthy ecosystems provide benefits for all life on earth, but valuing them for what the provide humans is a key management tool
    • which ones are the most vulberable to global change?
    • which ones are the most essential to humans?
    • globally? regionall? locally?

The value of biological diversity




  • Two studies - Nature paper in 1997 and a re-evaluation and update in 2011


  • Used lots in individual studies to synthesis values of measured ecosystem services globally
    • 33 trillion (1997) - 125 trillion (2011)


  • 1997 paper predicted that economic value could only increase

The value of biological diversity




  • Why is value going up?


  • How many reasons can we list?


  • Total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced (GDP) in 2020 was $85 trillion.
    • What does this comparison mean to you?

The value of biological diversity: Where is the $ at?


  • All biomes do not appear to be created equal..in terms of $


  • What is the connection between biodiversity and biome value


  • Which biomes are most abundant
    • What does this mean for the future?


  • A recent study predicts that values can shift by trillions every year based on global change and decision making

The value of biological diversity




There is a false dichotomy between “the environment” and “the economy”.


Without the environment there would be no economy.


Are there potential down-sides of valuing ecosystem services monetarily?


  • Commodification and privatization of natural resources

Valuing nature: Lots of complex & conflicting benefits




Economic value of endangered species can lead to further declines


Devastating armed conflicts over natural resources


Abysmal working conditions in resource extraction


Bioprospecting and biopiracy

Next up: Friday open-discussion on the ‘value of nature’


  • Which value resonates most with you personally?


  • Can you make a persuasive argument for which value aspect of biodiversity is the most important?


  • Prepare a ‘legal brief’ to present to a small group
    • summarize your argument into a few key points
    • provide real tangible evidence
    • submit your brief on Brightspace (can be rough)


  • Feel free to argue the path less traveled


  • Your group will need to come to a decision based on everyone’s briefs